Alex Zerbini
Senior research scientist, Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies
Whales, Wildlife
Expertise: Population ecology and natural history of whales and dolphins; satellite tracking and development of remote whale tracking methods.
Dr. Alexandre (Alex) Zerbini is a Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator with the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies at the University of Washington. He has a B.S. degree in biological oceanography from the University of Rio Grande, Brazil, a M.S. degree in zoology from the University of São Paulo, Brazil and a Ph.D. in aquatic and fishery sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Dr. Zerbini’s expertise includes abundance estimation, population assessment and population biology of cetaceans. He is regarded as a world leader on the development and application of satellite telemetry technology for large whales. He has coordinated or participated on cetacean assessment studies and has deployed various types of tracking instruments in large whales and small cetaceans worldwide.
Dr. Zerbini has published more than 175 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters. He has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission since 2000, and he has recently served as the Chairman (2022-2024) of the Committee. He is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cetacean Specialist Group, the IUCN Cetacean Red List Authority, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Advisory Group on river dolphins and the Marine Mammal Bycatch Working Group of the Lenfest Oceans Program.
